'Simplified Map' author reads at Powell's

Portland creative writing teacher and author Stevan Allred reads from his new book Thursday evening, Sept. 12, at Powells City of Books.

Allred will read from A Simplified Map of the Real World at 7:30 p.m. in Powells Pearl Room, 1005 W. Burnside St. His book is being published by Southwest Portlands Forest Avenue Press.

A Simplified Map is a collection of 15 linked stories flowing through the lives of families, farmers, loggers, former classmates, and the occasional stripper, in the imagined small town of Renata, Oregon. The book launches Forest Avenue Press fiction catalog and will be followed in 2014 by two novels and a statewide anthology, all featuring Oregon writers.

Former newspaper reporter Laura Stanfill, publisher and founder of Forest Avenue Press, studied fiction with Allred and his co-teacher Joanna Rose, at the Pinewood Table.

While writing one of the stories, Allred was inspired by a longtime Portland performance artist, a man who paints himself silver and is often seen at Saturday Market and Pioneer Place. The artist is expected to be at Thursday evenings reading.